THE CABINET will be asked to approve a “sugar tax” on sweetened drinks that could raise up to €50 million a year, Minister for Health James Reilly has announced.
The Minister told the Seanad of his plans yesterday pointing out the contribution that sweetened drinks were making to rising levels of obesity in Ireland.
Research has shown that more than 60 per cent of Irish adults and a quarter of five to 12-year-olds are overweight, contributing to a dramatic increase in type 2 diabetes as well as conditions like heart disease and cancer.
Many health experts have called for a “sugar tax” as a key part of the strategy to tackle obesity but the drinks industry has opposed it and claimed it would cost jobs.
Methods of taxing the rising tide of obesity are being debated around Europe following the initiative of Hungary which began penalising high calorie food and drinks on September 1st, with Denmark introducing a “fat tax” last month.
The Danish tax operates as a surcharge on foods such as butter, oil and pizza which contain more than 2.3 per cent saturated fat. For consumers, these foods now carry a levy, calculated at €2.15 per kilogram of saturated fat, meaning that the cost of a pound of butter has increased by about 20 cent.
With an obesity rate of 9 per cent, Denmark is far below the European average of 15 per cent, while 23 per cent of Irish people are considered to be obese.
Denmark and Finland have already levied taxes on sugary drinks, while Hungary brought in a wide-ranging “fat tax” on foods, soft drinks and alcohol in a bid to tackle its 18.8 per cent obesity rate.
British prime minister David Cameron suggested earlier this month that the UK could follow Denmark’s lead, and from January 1st France is to introduce a tax on sugary drinks.